Tuesday, December 14, 2010

A Call to Action for All Lion Conservationists

Fellow lion conservationists, please write an email to the IUCN Cat Specialist Group and ask them to reclassify the African lion as Endangered. The lion is currently classified as Vulnerable and this classification is allowing them to continue to be sport hunted, killed for bushmeat, and otherwise decimated. If the lion is reclassified as Endangered, it would mean the lion trophies would be illegal to import or bring into the U.S. and over 70% of hunters who kill lions are from the U.S.

Below is a copy of the letter I've sent to the IUCN; please feel free to use any or all of it in order to save time. The important thing is to send them an email urging them to take this action.

As you are aware, wild lions have disappeared from over 80 percent (80%)of its historic range and currently exist in only 28 countries in Africa and one country in Asia (India) which only has approximately 200 lions. The lion is extinct in 26 countries. There are only 7 countries (Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe) which have more than 1,000 lions.

The following excerpt is from SafariBwana.com, an African lion hunting operation:

A recent CITES scare and a shortage of good Lion hunting areas has resulted in the price of fair chase hunts skyrocketing. Added to this, recent legislation in South Africa cracking down on the hunting of large captive bred predators has created more demand than there are Lion hunts.

Expect to pay anything from $40,000 upwards for a good Lion Hunting concession in any of the southern and central classic destinations. For the best, like some areas of Zambia, Botswana, and Tanzania, expect to pay from $75,000 upwards of $100,000.

Almost a century ago, there are approximately 200,000 lions living in the wild of Africa. Today there are fewer then 30,000 wild lions in Africa. If lions in the wild continue to be killed at the current rate, experts agree that the African lion in the wild will be extinct in as little as twenty years. If not sooner. This letter is to respectfully ask that you move the lion from the Vulnerable classification to the Endangered classification as soon as possible.

The lion is synonymous with wild Africa and is an iconic symbol worldwide. However, few people are aware of the current dire circumstances of the lion and that it is on the verge of extinction. Placing the lion on the IUCN's Endangered Species List will not only protect the species, but bring the awareness so badly needed.Lion conservationists such as myself and many, many others are working tirelessly to protect the species, only to see hunters pay large sums of money to fly into Africa to hunt and kill the few remaining wild lions. The bushmeat trade industry trades in wild lion meat everyday, removing even more lions from the wild. Placing the lion on the Endangered list would be an important step towards allowing the lion population to recover from the decimation it has experienced. Classifying the lion as Endangered would also make lion trophies illegal to import into such countries as the United States, where the majority of lion sport/trophy hunters are from.

Please place the African lion on the Endangered Species list as soon as possible.By doing so, the lion will be afforded the protection that it so desperately needs. If there is additional action I can take to help make this happen, please let me know.

We cannot let the African lion go extinct. We cannot fail this species.

Thank you for your time and consideration.
Keon Robertson
Austin, Texas